Sure hope Oleg gets with the program

[nearmiss]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

I think it all boils down to being active as a citizen. You can't correct your country's wrongs on a global scale if you don't work in parallel to correct them on a domestic scale. America is a powerful country built on the honest sweat and toil of its people, but also on the blood of many people including their own. And it happens to a certain degree in every country out there.

Why is the US able to have such a powerful, professional army? Because it's the domestic policies that enforce this on the citizen. If i come from a disadvantaged background, more so for minorities, if i have no insurance, no job, no health care, no means to feed my family and no money to adequately support myself through college what are my options for a good and dependable paycheck? I either go for big money with an uncertainty factor by crossing to the wrong side of the law, or settle for less money but in a heavily regulated environment and enlist in the professional army. Or flip burgers for the rest of my life.

Professional armies are good for a country to have because the personnel accumulates training and experience, but a 100% professional army dilutes the basic idea behind an army. And that is that every man will do his part if the need arises for the defence of certain values and their homes. In the case of the US, a bunch of people will skip going to the army because they can afford a better standard of living and leave it to those with a higher sense of responsibility and those with no better means to pursue a career. In my humble opinion, a mix of drafted conscripts and professionals is best, because it will still accumulate the needed experience among its professional ranks, while still containing enough civilians to doubt and oppose its use as a mercenary tool for some powermongers that sit in an office and talk on the phone while we're out there getting killed. And while they can't do much while they are in the army, they still have something that worries the suits, a voice, a brain and a vote.

Professional armies are not good over the long term here are a few reasons.

After years of counting on mercenary armies the people of the country become apathetic about the people in the military.

After years none of the politicians are true patriots, because they are from priviledged backgrounds. It is already becoming a fact in America, that only the old timers who have served in the military empathize with soldiers and understand what it is to get shot at.

Civilians who have never had their life on their line for themselves and their country just cannot know what getting shot at does to you. Facing an enemy intent on killing you, cringing in a foxhole with rpgs going off all around you knowing that it's just going to be divine providence if you get out alive. Well, that puts real emphasis on the price of freedom.

Overtime the professional military always starts taking power... afterall who can stop them. It has been that way since the history of war. When the lack of respect for the military or other pervasive reasons begin to creep in the military begins to change as well. The military begins to protect itself, when the citizens it is created to serve.... no longer respect it.

Professional armies have a history of creating wars and problems, because WAR is their business, that's what they do. It doesn't often take a lot to provoke a war. Think about it.. America has from what I understand 38,000 troops in Korea. What if a couple of not-so-sane generals got to thinking and decided to go after those commie bastards across the 38th parallel border between N and S Korea. They could start an unprecedented incident, and they might very well be able to cover it up. GW Bush did it, and now the TV news has uncovered and documented the GW Bush administration of the American government was guilty of telling 900+ lies to confirm Saddam Hussein's support of terrorism.

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Professional armies have always been started and created from the ground up with the poor, disadvantaged and often less intelligent people. THis is not new. It has always been that way. The elite, well educated and priviledged when they serve are always officers, and are awarded the elite commands, etc.

This a fact. I heard a very well educated American woman talking about the military and the soldiers dying in Iraq. She said, " Soldiers know the risk, they volunteered to go into the military". I said to her, that was the stupid. I asked her how many 18-22 years olds have any idea what is to be shot at or attacked by an enemy. Is there anyway those young people can know what they're up against?

I indicated there is a way, which of course would never be done... Make every recruit crawl through a gauntlet about 200 yards of bare ground covered with barbed wire and pop off ordinance all around (at safe distance from the recruits) and have 50 caliber machine guns straffing just above the barbed wire. If the prospective soldier lifted his head, butt or anything too high there would be a 50 caliber imprint on him/her for the rest of life.

Then when the prospective soldier finished ask them if they still want to go into the military. They wouldn't have very many volunteers after that little controlled experiment.

Getting shot at sucks and there is no way you know what it's like until you experience it. There is nothing worse than war.